Nedovic and James carry Milan to road win over Olympiacos

AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan picked up a surprise road victory by comfortably knocking off Olympiacos Piraeus 75-99. Mike James paced Milan with 22 points and 5 assists while Nemanja Nedovic had 18 of his 20 points in the second half, Vladimir Micov hit 5 three-pointers in scoring 19 points and Arturas Gudaitis added 11 points. Milan jumped to 2-1 as it turned the ball over just 8 times in the game. Olympiacos dropped to 2-1 on the young season despite Nikola Milutinov collecting a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Georgios Printezis scored 13 points and Vangelis Mantzaris and Sasha Vezenkov both added 12 points in defeat.

Olympiacos’ big man Milutinov was a force to start the game with 4 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block as the hosts went up 8-6. Micov made sure Milan stayed in the game with 3 three-pointers while James dished 4 assists for a 17-20 advantage. Mantzaris knocked down a long ball, Vezenkov scored 4 points and Olympiacos was up 26-24 after 10 minutes. Mantzaris and Mindaugas Kuzminskas swapped three-balls early in the second quarter and the game went back and forth with six straight lead changes before back to back three-pointers from Amedeo Della Valle and James for a 37-44 cushion. It was 41-44 at the break, but Printezis hit two baskets in a 7-1 Olympiacos start to the second half to take the lead 48-46. But Nedovic answered with 7 points in a 3-10 Milan run as the guests went ahead 55-58. Olympiacos was held scoreless for more than 2 minutes as Milan hit 10 straight points and Curtis Jerrells’ three-pointer increased the gap to 59-71. Micov added yet another three-pointer early in the fourth quarter and then went back-to-back from long range with James in a 0-10 spurt as the advantage was up to 22 points with less than 4 minutes to play. Olympiacos did not get closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

Rare road win

Milan came into the game trailing the overall series with Olympiacos 12-4 with just one victory in eight games in Piraeus - back in the Top 16 of the 2013-14 season. But Simone Piangiani’s men got the job done on the road this time.

Game changing sequence

Milan was up 57-58 in the third quarter when it went on a 0-10 run over more than 2 minutes and Curtis Jerrells’ three-pointer made it 59-71.

Key performer

Nemanja Nedovic scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half and also picked up 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals for an index rating of 26.

Hidden stat

Milan committed just 8 turnovers while on defense it held Olympiacos to 2-of-13 on three-pointers (15 percent).

Next games

Olympiacos next hosts Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv with the hopes of grabbing a first home win. Milan heads home to welcome Khimki Moscow Region, also looking for its first home win after falling to Real Madrid in Round 2.

Head Coaches

BLATT, DAVID

Olympiacos Piraeus

“We suffered from the effects of tough travel and fatigue and we did not mentally overcome that. I told the players that things are never as good or never as bad as they seem. And after three games we are 2-1 in this tough EuroLeague and we have to recognize that we have to bring ourselves mentally and physically to the highest level to compete. I want to thank our fans for coming to the game tonight and supporting the team. We needed to give them a better performance and a better show. And I hope that we will in our next game."

PIANIGIANI, SIMONE

AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan

“I talked to my players before the game. We played a great game against Real Madrid 48 hours ago, we were leading by 15 points at home and then we lost two or three balls and missed some open shots and gave it up. But if you are a good team you have to show tonight, immediately afterwards, the right reaction about our mentality, starting from defense and starting to decide the flow of the offense. In the first half we stopped the ball three or four times. But I told my players at halftime: this is something that we have to decide: the rhythm of the game. We had this chance, we were working for this very hard. They reacted in a positive way so this is important for us because this is a process for us to get better and better. One victory is nothing in the EuroLeague, and if you lose at Olympiacos’ home, this means nothing. But showing the reaction for me is much more important and how everybody comes together. So, this is a good victory for those reasons."

Players

NEDOVIC, NEMANJA

AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan

“It might not look like it, but I am pretty tired right now. When we have a good game like this the team gives me extra energy. My teammates helped me a lot when I was struggling in the first half. I picked it up in the second half and I think it’s a very important win for us."